Whoop whoop! Here are 3 of the 6 new ads I just photographed for Snoqualmie Casino with ad agency Green Rubino. I’m really proud of how these images came together. Lot’s of firsts on this project. I had my first 3:00am call time, first time shooting models jumping on a trampoline in high heels, and first time winning $100 on slots while working.

There are a ton of casino’s fighting for business these days, and most of the ads I have seen all pretty much look the same. A dude eating a big hamburger, a pretty lady rolling dice, and a group of friends out to dinner. Not to mention the photography is usually pretty bad. It’s easy, and what I am sure people have come to expect from casino ads. That is why it was so refreshing to work with Green Rubino on this campaign because it was a well put together concept with high production value. Snoqualmie Casino is going to stand completely apart from the competition. At least until the competition has time to scramble and try to copy this.

As always, a very big thank you to the wonderful people at Green Rubino and Snoqualmie Casino for working with us on this ad campaign. Dennis Budel, Jason Vargas, Joe Quatrone, Peggy, and Michelle Hendrickson, congrats and well done! Time to celebrate.

This is the first look at a campaign I have been working on for MiiR Bottles over the past several months. These ads will be both online and in print. Soon to follow will be the debut of my first commercial as a director, which will be equally clever and funny. As simple as a water bottle sounds, there are so many great ideas to work with because there are a lot of water bottles on the market that are difficult to use. I think this comes across pretty clear in these ads.

I would like to say thank you to Bryan Papé of MiiR who is always so supportive and trusting of my vision. And thank you, also, to Ian Goode of Gigantic Squid for making the waterbeard magic and going the extra 100 miles to make these turn out as good as they did.

If you were wondering, this is the campaign I hinted at last month when I posted an image from one of the water capture shoots.

It turns out that you actually have to buy a Match 4 Lotto ticket for your chance to win $10,000, but you may not have known about that if you didn’t read about it on this blog. Right? So technically you can win $10,000 by reading the John Keatley Blog…

Ok, so enough about winning money. The pictures above are from the new Washington State Lottery Match 4 ad campaign that I recently shot with Cole & Weber United. I have always enjoyed Lottery ads because they often incorporate quirky humor, along with fresh creative concepts. I got my first taste of working with the Washington Lotto a few years ago. It was also the first ad shoot I had ever done. Publicis was the ad agency working on the account at the time. It was a smaller scale job, mostly running in newspapers, and point of sale, but ever since then I have wanted to do more with the Lottery.

That’s what made this so fun and rewarding for me. It’s a client that I have been seeking out, and I was selected specifically for my brand of photography. I was given the freedom to “do what I do”, and that always seems to bring about the best end product. Same story with the Sounders FC ad campaign that I recently shot. Go Sounders by the way! Undefeated!

These pictures are of the members of the Match 4′s. A singing group comprised of stereotypical Washington locals who are so excited about winning $10,000 that they just have to sing. That’s not the official concept actually. I just made that last part up.